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Arts and Health

In 2016, RI Department of Health partnered with the RI State Council on the Arts to support development of a State Arts and Health Plan - a public health roadmap for advancing the integration of arts and health for the state.
As part of this process an interdisciplinary team of arts and health practitioners which includes researchers, artists, and clinicians formed the RI Arts and Health Advisory Group. The Advisory Group outlined a strategy for fully integrating arts and arts-based therapies into healthcare and community settings through innovative and sustainable policy, practice, and research recommendations.
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Evidence Mapping

Evidence maps are an emerging technique used to map the distribution of evidence in an area, identifying which populations or conditions and interventions have been studied. They are also used to depict which outcomes have been measured related to studies. These maps organize the evidence base and provide a visual representation of the distribution, breadth, and depth of pertinent evidence.

The RI Arts and Health Advisory Group, mapped the evidence of arts-based healthcare interventions to see the connections between interventions and populations, existing gaps, areas of uncertainty, and entry points of great opportunity. evidence map

Key Questions asked during the evidence mapping process

What is the distribution of evidence (i.e., published, peer reviewed studies) across the arts and humanities sector to support policy-level recommendations?

Where are the areas of evidence of saturation within the body of literature?

Where are the gaps in evidence within the body of evidence?

How does the existing evidence align with stakeholder’s understanding of the field or experience working in the arts and health sectors within Rhode Island?

State Plan

The Rhode Island State Arts and Health Plan (State Plan) was created by the RI State Arts and Health Advisory Group. The State Plan outlines policy, practice, and research recommendations for advancing the integration of arts and health in our State. Through the implementation of the recommendations, stakeholders will be poised to effect innovative change in the following focus areas.

Patient Care - Employing the arts with a treatment plan to anticipate and provide for each patient’s needs and helping them achieve their health goals in consideration of their health condition.

Community Well-being - Using the arts to address public health concerns such as health literacy, health equity, and trauma resiliency, in public areas such as community centers, parks, stand-alone clinics, etc.

Healing Environments - Includes architecture and design for interiors and exteriors of facilities, permanent or rotating displays of art, music performance in lobbies or other public spaces, etc.

Care for Caregivers - Includes professional caregivers (e.g. physicians and nurses), paraprofessional caregivers (e.g. home health aides), and informal caregivers (e.g. family and friends).